The first baptism of LifeTree Church.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
ALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
Tonight after dinner, we had our regular family Bible Study. Currently we are studying the book of John. After our Bible Study, we prayed and were about to get the girls ready for bed and Brooke asked if she could read the Lord's Prayer.
As she read, she said, "Our Father in heaven, allowed be your name . . ." At that point, we corrected her reading, and she sailed through the rest of the prayer without a problem.
As I was thinking of the situation, I thought how appropriate it is to pray that God's name be allowed. Our nation has strayed far in the last fifty years. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Pace is being dragged through the mud because he stated his belief that homosexuality is immoral, and that immorality does not belong in the military (he also said that adultrey was immoral but they didn't care about that statement). Christmas and Easter are under attack as the secularists attempt to dissociate the holidays from their Christian meanings. Families are under attack as socialists attempt to hijack the parental roles of raising children. And Brooke prays "Our Father in heaven, allowed be your name."
God uses the innocence of children to sound his call to pray for our nation. I ask you to pray and ask God "allowed be your name."
Tonight after dinner, we had our regular family Bible Study. Currently we are studying the book of John. After our Bible Study, we prayed and were about to get the girls ready for bed and Brooke asked if she could read the Lord's Prayer.
As she read, she said, "Our Father in heaven, allowed be your name . . ." At that point, we corrected her reading, and she sailed through the rest of the prayer without a problem.
As I was thinking of the situation, I thought how appropriate it is to pray that God's name be allowed. Our nation has strayed far in the last fifty years. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Pace is being dragged through the mud because he stated his belief that homosexuality is immoral, and that immorality does not belong in the military (he also said that adultrey was immoral but they didn't care about that statement). Christmas and Easter are under attack as the secularists attempt to dissociate the holidays from their Christian meanings. Families are under attack as socialists attempt to hijack the parental roles of raising children. And Brooke prays "Our Father in heaven, allowed be your name."
God uses the innocence of children to sound his call to pray for our nation. I ask you to pray and ask God "allowed be your name."
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The APA (American Psychological Association) recently released a study on the oversexualization of girls. It comes as no big surprise that they found that young girls are constantly bombarded with sexuality in all facets of life, and that this has serious negative effects on these girls. Unfortunately, the APA concluded their report with a call for increased awareness and education. Like that would really make a difference! I would also like to point out that the report said nothing of the negative effects this oversexualized environment has on boys, women, or men. Just as young girls suffer low self esteem, eating disorders, STDs, and a whole host of other problems, women, men and boys are equally affected.
The problem with the APA is that they are searching for a right answer in the wrong place. American society has effectively declared war on Christ and his followers by attempting (and sometimes succeeding) to remove any influence the Bible has. As a result, when society is confronted with the negative consequences of their lack of morality, they have no answer to reverse those consequences.
Fortunately, God provides His answer in the Bible. First, we are called to flee immorality (1 Cor. 6:18). We aren’t merely to avoid the overtly lewd and vulgar. We are to actively flee all kinds of immorality. But how does one do this in the day and age we live in?
There is no where you can go that is free from some type of sexualized message. As I sit in the airport writing this blog, there are immodestly dressed women and girls walking by (I am trying not to look. I promise). The television is playing daytime programming (let’s not even get in to the whole soap opera issue). Commercials contain overtly sexual and covertly sexual messages and innuendo. How do we protect ourselves and our children from this garbage?
A good practice to put into place is filtering your media intake. This does not mean a life of devoted to children’s television programming and reruns of the Brady Bunch. Rather, choose to watch shows that are not blatantly immoral. When commercials come on, channel surf so you aren’t exposed to the "sex sells" advertising. Or read books more often than you watch t.v.
Also, when you are confronted by immodest people as I currently am, practice the discipline of "eye bouncing." What is eye bouncing you ask? Simply put, it is quickly averting your gaze when confronted with something you shouldn’t be seeing.
The problem with the APA is that they are searching for a right answer in the wrong place. American society has effectively declared war on Christ and his followers by attempting (and sometimes succeeding) to remove any influence the Bible has. As a result, when society is confronted with the negative consequences of their lack of morality, they have no answer to reverse those consequences.
Fortunately, God provides His answer in the Bible. First, we are called to flee immorality (1 Cor. 6:18). We aren’t merely to avoid the overtly lewd and vulgar. We are to actively flee all kinds of immorality. But how does one do this in the day and age we live in?
There is no where you can go that is free from some type of sexualized message. As I sit in the airport writing this blog, there are immodestly dressed women and girls walking by (I am trying not to look. I promise). The television is playing daytime programming (let’s not even get in to the whole soap opera issue). Commercials contain overtly sexual and covertly sexual messages and innuendo. How do we protect ourselves and our children from this garbage?
A good practice to put into place is filtering your media intake. This does not mean a life of devoted to children’s television programming and reruns of the Brady Bunch. Rather, choose to watch shows that are not blatantly immoral. When commercials come on, channel surf so you aren’t exposed to the "sex sells" advertising. Or read books more often than you watch t.v.
Also, when you are confronted by immodest people as I currently am, practice the discipline of "eye bouncing." What is eye bouncing you ask? Simply put, it is quickly averting your gaze when confronted with something you shouldn’t be seeing.
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